The dedicated line was activated as part of a campaign, in line with the whole-of-society approach that underpins the National Security Strategy, aimed at encouraging citizens to report suspicious persons or activities to enable the State to respond effectively to the threat of terrorism and violent extremism. He told Accra-based 3FM that the “prank calls are seasonal”.
On the other hand, the Director of Public Affairs at the GNFS, Timothy Osafo-Affum, revealed that, on average, the two centres in Accra and Kumasi receive up to 24,000 prank calls a day. The problem with prank calls seems to extend to other agencies, as the National Ambulance Dispatch Centre and the Ghana National Fire Service have also reported similar challenges.Ĭall centre operators for the ambulance service have said that about 98 per cent of the over 500 calls they receive each day are from people who do not need any emergency services. “We beseech all and sundry to desist from making prank calls to the centre as doing so undermines the ability of law enforcement agencies to effectively respond to actual crises,” a statement from the ministry said. It increased on the second day, with 7,907 prank calls registered on Wednesday.īefore noon on Thursday, the fake calls had reached 6,096 at the time of checking.Īuthorities believe the situation could hamper the efforts of the ministry to receive timely reports and intelligence to act on suspicious terror-related activity, which needs to be relayed by the public to security agencies via the 999 hotline.ĭespite the development, the ministry has assured the public of the activeness of the call centre and encouraged reporting of all suspicious persons and behaviour. On the first day, 5,557 fake calls were recorded.
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